Be Obsessed or Be Overlooked: Authentic, Savage Honesty in the Travel Industry
In this solo episode of The No BS Travel Advisor podcast, Marcie Muensterman delivers a raw, profanity‑laden manifesto on how independent travel advisors can break through a stagnant industry by embracing "obsession" and brutal authenticity. She outlines her proven three‑pillar strategy for private Facebook groups, argues that private groups convert faster than any other channel, and critiques the checkbox mentality of marketing. Marcie stresses that advisors must stop apologizing for caring, stop censoring their voice, and instead post aggressively, show their faces, and share unapologetically personal opinions—even unpopular or offensive ones—to attract aligned, high‑spending clients. She challenges conventional commission splits, urges advisors to negotiate better splits or move hosts, and emphasizes financial goals, consistent multi‑platform content, and the importance of blocking toxic influences. Throughout, she blends coaching, personal anecdotes, and blunt advice, positioning obsession as disciplined devotion rather than hustle, and frames savage honesty as the fastest path to growth and fulfillment in 2026.
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Hey there! Welcome to The No BS Travel Advisor. This is the solo edition. Just me, Marcie Muensterman, my mouth, my mistakes, and the real stories from 19 years in this wild-ass industry. There will be no guests here. No censorship, no filters, just the truth behind how I burned out, rebuilt, and finally learned to run this business like the CEO that I am. And if you're an independent advisor who suspects your host might suck, hate Working for free and appreciates a well-placed F-bomb, you're in the right damn place. So let's go. Hey y'all, it's Marcie, your No BS Travel Advisor Coach. I have been doing First Class Community Facebook audits. If you're not in my First Class Community course, you may not know what I'm talking about, but my First Class Community course is my Facebook groups course where I teach travel advisors how to maximize a private exclusive Facebook group. I am not here for the public groups. And I teach a very specific strategy with 3 pillars that you don't necessarily use every day, but you do post quite a bit. And I used to kind of apologize for this. I used to be like, oh, well, you know, you don't have to post that much, but that's what I recommend, especially for the first like 90 days. And it's gotten to the point where now I'm just, I'm done apologizing. This is the strategy. And if you are committed, it will work. It takes time. It's just like any other social media strategy, but my belief and the statistics say that private Facebook groups are going to convert faster than any other social media. And I've been doing it long enough to know and ran multiple businesses using the strategy that I have now that I know it still works. And over the holiday, I thought it would be fun and helpful to the people who have invested, who are doing the work, to audit their Facebook groups, I realized there's something off in 90%. And honestly, I'm not disappointed or anything. I'm not upset. Like some of you are doing the work. Some of you are doing the content calendar I provide. Some of you are using the Trello prompts. The issue is you are not doing them authentically and you're kind of doing them to checkmark the box. And that's what we're really going to get into today. We're going to get into why You think marketing should just be a checkbox. When we are in sales, we need to be obsessed. So that is something I went live and talked about in Maximize this week. And I wanted to just bring that to the podcast as well. If you are not in my Maximize Your Travel Advisor Business Facebook group, that is free. Everyone's invited unless you're an asshole and then you're probably banned. But what I really want you to do today is listen to what it means To be obsessed with your business, obsessed with yourself, obsessed with knowing how good you are and believing in how good you are. We've been talking a lot about mindset over the last couple of weeks on the pod, and we're going to continue that conversation because when I am in these Facebook group audits and when I am following you on Instagram or TikTok, or I'm friends with you on Facebook—I'm not friending any other travel advisors, by the way—I am just. not seeing obsession with your business. I'm not seeing excitement. I'm not seeing sharing quality conversations with your people. And I know it's because it makes you squirm in your seat to think about putting yourself out there like that. But that is what is wrong with your business right now. You are not obsessed with it and you are not lighting up the room with your personality. You are closing yourself off. You're putting a wall up between you and your audience, and you don't even realize you're doing it. And I think that it's because you worry so, so much about what other people are going to say, think, things that we have no control over. The thing that we have control over is sharing about our business, about our expertise. Even if you're new, you are an expert in your particular business. You may not be an expert in my business because you don't know how I run my business, but you are an expert in how you run your business. You are an expert in the things that you know you're learning about. And I'm going to say it again. We bring so much from our past jobs, from our past experiences into being a travel advisor. If you're a mom, you're bringing those skills. If you're a receptionist, you're bringing those skills. If you're a doctor, you're bringing those skills. If you're a nurse or a teacher, you're bringing Those skills to your travel advisor business, and you are an expert in those things that you've been doing for a very long time. Now, when I say the word obsess, which I have decided is my word of the year, because I am obsessed with you. I am obsessed with coaching you, guiding you, and helping you make more money working less hours. Like, I'm obsessed with that. I've been obsessed with it, but now I'm really obsessed with it. And We can make today a game. If you're listening to this with your glass of wine, take a little sippy sip, not a drinky drink, a sippy sip, every time I say obsessed. I don't want you to confuse obsession with toxic hustle or doing too much, okay? Because that is not the kind of obsession I'm talking about. I'm not talking about working 80 hours a week. I'm talking about the kind of obsession where you are no longer apologizing For caring immensely about your business, for being yourself no matter what, and to stop making yourself smaller so that you and other people feel more comfortable. I do not care if someone is judging you, and I want you to stop caring if someone is judging you. I want you to block them, ban them. I want you to say goodbye to them. I don't care if it's your fucking sister. If she does not bring all of the confident joy into your life and into your business, block her. My sister is one of my biggest fans. It took a little while, but she shares about me. She cares about me and she is excited for me and she interacts with my posts and she wants to be in all my groups because she knows how crazy fun it is to be in my space. And it may have taken a while. I mean, I started this business in my 20s and it was kind of like, what is Marcie doing now? Right? But you guys, this industry has way too much cool shit happening in it every day. Some of it makes us anxious. Like, let's be honest, when the Caribbean shut down yesterday, we were all very anxious. But there are way too many people in this business sitting on their fucking hands worried about what someone is going to say or think about them and not enough about their aligned client. You guys are more focused on The people that don't matter, the people in the cheap seats, than you are about your aligned following. And a lot of you are saying to me in the comments, oh, I don't have an aligned following. I don't have luxury clients. I don't have this. My people aren't on Facebook. My people aren't here, there, and everywhere. And that is just a lie. That is just a lie. My father-in-law has been visiting me for about a month, and that man spends more time on Facebook than anyone else I know. He reads news articles. He is constantly scrolling on his phone and he is 72 years old. So if you are, you know, 30 and up and listening to this and thinking my people aren't online, you are a liar and you have believed that lie. So then in addition to that, you're like, oh, I don't need to be obsessed with it on social media. Yes, you fucking do. I'm tired. I'm like, I believe you don't have to be everywhere all the time in every space, but you do need to choose a platform. And go all in this year on one platform. I personally advise the exclusive private Facebook group, and I believe in doing the work when it's quiet. I believe in being obsessed with your business when no one else gives a shit at all, even your partner. I don't care if he's just not supportive. You can be obsessed and drive your own train without support. You really can. It's not as much fun, and I get that, but the more you are obsessed with it, The more it will grow. And if you've ever been told you're too much, if you've ever dimmed your energy or censored yourself or not said the first thing that comes to mind because you really are caring too much about what other people think, this is the episode for you. You probably will need to put it in your favorites on repeat, share it with all of your friends, because we are going to dive into what I mean by being obsessed. This is not just, I'm going to turn into this vain person that posts constantly and drives everybody crazy. Because the other thing about social media is there is not a planet in our sun's orbit that every single follower, every single member of your group, every single person in your feed is ever, ever going to see every single post you create. So we also have to get it out of our head that we are annoying. And I know with MLM culture this is difficult. I know that some of you have been in that culture. I have been in that culture. But I'm going to be honest with you, this works for MLM culture. And the reason is because they very much don't give a shit what everybody else says about them and they do it anyway. And many of them do grow very large MLM businesses by being obsessed with their product, by being obsessed with their message. And that is something we're going to discuss because On so many levels, I know that you're like, I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be too salesy. I don't want to be pushy. And I get it. Like, I've been in sales for 20 years. I totally understand not wanting to be too much, but I'll tell you what, the more obsessed I get with my businesses, the more successful I am. And so many of you have asked me, how are you so confident? How are you so much yourself? And it's just doing it every single day. It's getting up, putting my feet on the floor and deciding to be obsessed with my businesses today and share about them and not be embarrassed about it and own it and be okay wanting to financially drive your businesses forward. That's the other thing that I believe that we get really tied up in and we don't want to be known for wanting to make money. It's fucking America, y'all. We have been told since day one we have to make money and America is obsessed with money and there is no reason To pretend like any of us want to do this for free. And I don't care how successful your partner is. I don't care how successful you are at your other job. You do not want to work for 18 months on a booking that profits you $200. It's not a thing. None of us actually want that. And we can argue about it all day. Eventually you're going to burn out doing those types of trips and not getting paid appropriately. So being obsessed does not mean you're crazy, but it can make you unstoppable. It really can. And I just want you guys to embrace how awesome you are. A few weeks ago, I did mention like Henry Cloud's book, and in it he says— and no, I cannot remember the name right now. If I remember it, I will post it in the show notes. But he talks about how in puberty, especially women, lose their awesome because that is about the time. And I think all of us can go back to when we were 11, 12, 13, and kind of pull down a core memory of the first time we were really embarrassed about something. And it was probably because you were being too loud or you got called out in a class, or you said something and stuck your foot in your mouth. And I have very core memories of saying the wrong word at the wrong time and it being So quiet after I said something that I realized, oh my gosh, I really stepped over a line on this. But I was in 7th grade. And so that is the moment where he says so many of us pull back. We begin to censor. We begin to worry about how we're talking and what we're saying and how we're saying it. And on so many levels, that's appropriate, especially in corporate America. I think there are so many fucking rules that you have to follow, or if you're a teacher or a nurse. Of course there are rules, but I need you to be really understanding right now to hear me say, when you are in sales, all the rules, all the quote unquote professionalism go out the window, especially for men. Men do not follow the same level of rules in any environment that women follow, but especially in sales. And as someone who has been in rooms with men in multiple years, the difference between being in a room full of women versus men is diabolical. And because they are not afraid to say the first fucking thing that comes to their mind, they are not afraid of being too much, of having a strong opinion, of being intense, being aggressive. They are not afraid to be crazy about their work. They're not afraid of that. Men in general, mediocre men, are not afraid to do any of that. And we need to embrace the whole ass vibe of a middle-aged mediocre, specifically white man. Argue if you want in the comments. I don't give a shit. One of the things that I know makes me successful is the obsession. I know that being obsessed with being a travel advisor is what made me successful. It is also what made me work 24/7 because that obsession went completely over the line. So now it's about understanding my own obsession and being self-aware. And balancing that obsession with sharing about my business with the time I have to share it. Okay. Same with my coaching business, you guys, I am obsessed with this business and I love you guys. And I want you to be so successful. I want you to build the business that you want to build the way you want to build it. And I am obsessed with how I believe that gets done. And that's what I coach. That's what my content is about. And I'm so proud of the last 3 years because I have stayed in my lane. I know who I am. And that is what I want for you. I want you to figure out who you are and be the most real, no bullshit, authentic version of yourself when it comes to your business, because I know you are damn good. at this job because you care so deeply. I have coached so many of you. I have talked to hundreds of you. And the one thing you all have in common is how much you care, how much you really, really want this to work for you, but also how much you care about your clients, how much you care about the travel industry. And that is not something that you can replace. Okay. That's not something you've Even learned. You are automatically doing that. So I want to validate you because I know how much you care. But the one thing you also care deeply about is what other people think. You care about what your friends say. You care about what your family might say at the holidays. You care about what your host is thinking, what your owner might do or say if you do or say something. Okay. You are worried about what you post online. You are worried about the first thing coming out of your mouth. You are worried about how you post and you multi-edit it until it's so generic, it's fucking boring. It's never going to actually give you the results you're looking for. When you copy and paste my content calendar, and I tell you to do this, you don't bring yourself to it. On engagement posts, copy and paste all day, but on personal posts and business posts, you really have to find your own voice, tell your own stories and you're refusing— and I mean most of you are refusing to do it, the majority, 95% of you in the Facebook audits are refusing to bring your own personality. You're using ChatGPT to tell your stories. You're over-tweaking it, you're over-editing it until it is so generic and so boring that no one is going to read it. You refuse to use selfies. Because you don't like how you look. Guys, this is your fucking face. This is your brand. Marketing a sales business of any kind requires you to show your fucking face. We are not Target. We are not Starbucks. No one is slowing down for a generic palm tree logo with nothing to actually fucking say. Okay. So we have got to get personal. We have got to get real in 2026. I want you to think about the content You're currently sharing. Is it what you really want to say? Is it really what you want to tell people about your business? Is it truly honest? Because that is what being quote unquote authentic actually means. This past week in Talk to Me Tuesday, where I give travel advice, business advice, I tell you all the personal things you want to know about me. Someone said, how do you know if you're being authentic? In your content? And I love this question. To me, my definition of you being authentic in your business is being savagely honest, being so honest, so direct, so blunt. Call it aggressive if you want, because that's what they call me. Aggressive, profane. Yes, I'm all of those. I'm all of those things and I'm not embarrassed about it. Being so clear that no one is fucking confused. That is what authenticity is. No one is confused about where you stand. There is very little gray area. And the reason there needs to be very little gray area is because you are being specific in who you are trying to attract, what you are selling, how much it costs, and how you are going to serve those aligned Clients. We have got to stop asking permission to be super duper honest about our businesses. All right. And we need to be real with ourselves about whether we are being honest. And that starts with you. Okay. That starts with you being honest 150% with yourself. If you're not ready to be honest with your audience, I get it. It takes time. It takes boldness. It takes courage to say the things you want to say, to say the first thing that comes to mind when somebody asks you about your business instead of trying to perfect it. You guys just overproduce what you want to say. You have to start with you. So as you're listening, I want you to think about who you really are and what you really want in 2026. What do you really, really want? Someone slid into my DMs and asked me, is it weird or Gross to want annual passes to Disney. I want to make enough money this year to pay for annual passes. Why on earth would I think that is weird or gross? It's none of my business what you want to make money to spend money for. Literally not one thing. But also, go on with your fucking bad self and get those annual passes. Sell a couple of audacious vacations, charge an audacious fee, put that money aside and tag it For annual passes. That is the point I'm trying to make. There is nothing embarrassing about wanting to pay for something using the money that we make and profit in our travel businesses. Just because that's not what I would spend my money on doesn't mean that that's not what you should spend your money on. And yes, some of us have college to pay for. Some of us are building a retirement fund. Some of us are spending $30 grand to go to Italy. That's me. Some of us are putting in a new bathroom. Some of us are paying our mortgage, our electric bill. We're paying for school supplies. Whatever it is, it is financial. This business is meant to bring some financial stability. It wasn't invented with a commission base other than to make money. Okay? So there is nothing wrong With setting a goal to purchase something using the money you make in your travel business, whether it's through fees or commission or whatever. Excuse me, the COVID is still lingering. I don't know if anybody else got COVID over the holidays, but it took almost 2 weeks to get better. And then I'm still got this like cough. I want you to think about no longer posting content to be quote unquote Liked. Okay. I want you to be likable, but I don't want you to post content just to post content and for it to be so soft that people are like, what does this even mean? Or why does it even matter? It needs to be abrasively clear, savagely honest. If you do not want to serve tire kickers in 2026, I want you to actually say that. In your content this year. And if you got the January content calendar from First Class Community, you will see the very first post that I want you to share in your personal profile is about that. Because I don't care what anybody says, 95% of us do not want to deal with tire kickers. We just don't. We don't want to be dealing with people comparing us to Costco or, you know, nickel and diming every little thing we put into an itinerary. We don't want that. It's a fucking pain in the ass. So instead of pretending that we're okay with it, we need to be blatantly clear that we are not doing that in 2026. Do not waste my time. And I want you to have the confidence to say, you know what? You have wasted my time 3 times in the last 2 years, and I am not comfortable having this conversation any further. I want you to fire your tire kickers in the DMs. They are not going to change. If they have come to you multiple times in the DMs and you have sent 12 to 14 quotes of cruises over the last couple of years and none of them have ever closed because they go directly to the website or they go to Costco or they go somewhere else and they book it on their own, stop fucking talking to them. Tell them to stop wasting your time. Block them. Do something to empower yourself to take back the narrative. And stop bullshitting. Stop bullshitting. Stop lying to yourself that they're going to book this time. We all know and can read the room. So why are we giving them our time? And then I want you to create content out of it. I want you to say, look, this is how I'm dealing with tire kickers this year. If you are not serious about booking your vacation with me and allowing me the opportunity to serve you at a very high level, Do not DM me. Do not join my group. Do not follow me on Instagram. We need to start alienating our non-aligned clients. People appreciate, and you guys are all here listening and you're 27 minutes into this podcast because I don't fuck around. I do not lie to you. I create content that alienates a very specific travel agent because I am tired of what's happening in our industry. And you are fucking tired of it. You are tired of dealing with the bullshit in your DMs. You really are. And instead of actually saying that, you all create content that is so fucking boring and so soft and, in my opinion, is so generic that no one is going to take you seriously. No one is going to give a shit about you because you are not being authentic. You are not being honest. And it starts with you, because if you're not willing to admit the stuff that really gets you fired up, that gets you passionate, then how will anybody trust you? How will anybody know where you fucking stand? And that goes for shitty resorts and countries you don't sell and cruise lines that suck. I mean, come on, guys, we all have strong opinions. of specific things that we do in our business. And we need to educate and share that as much as we share our excitement. But you guys don't even share how excited you are. You tone yourself so far down because you're afraid you're going to trigger someone in either direction. Some of you have said, I don't want to post too much about how exciting my travel life is because I don't, I don't want them to think that that's all I do or that my life is better than theirs. Your life is fucking better than theirs. You go to 7 national parks a year? Own it. That's why you're an expert. Are you having fun doing that? Hell yes. Do you want to share that with them so that they will consider that for their next vacation? Hell yes. It's a hell yes. Why are you embarrassed about your passions? Who gives a shit if it triggers someone and they're jealous? Getting a response of any kind, even negativity. is good for fucking business. Embracing that haterade attitude, so good for the fucking business. And that's the other thing I'm doing in 2026. I am embracing my haters. I am creating content just for them this year because it's fucking hilarious. It gives me so much to think about. Like, their perspective is so important, not to growing my business, but to really understand that they are triggered. And they tell on themselves every time they create some kind of generic content about how annoyed my profanity makes them, or how aggressive my voice is, or how my bitterness is not a boundary. Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not bitter. I can't even say the word without laughing. I used to be a fucking bitter bitch, but it also takes a bitter bitch to know a bitter bitch. So that's kind of my whole vibe for 2026 too, is like, I'm obsessed With the obsession with me. They're so obsessed with me that they're creating content and running ads and doing all this stuff to combat the reality check that I give independent contractors. That is the kind of response you want. That is the kind of holy shit, what is she saying now response that you want even in your travel business, because there are some strong opinions you can take on the travel business, whether it's I hate Spirit, cuz I fucking do. Or I love Delta and here's why, and I don't care that they're more expensive. They are the fucking best at this. Like take a stance, live and breathe by it. We all have those opinions, and then we also have all those unpopular opinions. Like I love, and I want you guys to do this this week. I want you guys to post a judgy-faced selfie with your coffee cup or your wine or your tea or your. Diet Coke from McDonald's and just give a fucking unpopular opinion with it. Say something honest about the travel industry on your personal page or your Instagram or somewhere public and drive them to your group using that judgy face. Okay. It can be like, I cannot believe how many people book their vacation where they buy their toilet paper. Judgy face. Okay? If you're watching me on YouTube, you're gonna see the judgy face model. I'm gonna do it right now. And why? Because anybody making a weird face is going to stop the scroll. And we all make faces when we are judging something, and we are all judgmental bitches. So own it. Use it to your advantage instead of being like, oh, I don't judge. I don't care where you go on vacation or where you book. Yes, we do. We care where you book. We want you to consider us because we are the fucking best. We are way better than the place where you buy the toilet paper. Are you kidding me? Stop quote unquote managing people's opinions of you. Stop caring if they're going to get offended that you are making fun of them for buying a vacation at the same place they purchase toilet paper. Stop tweaking your captions based on one opinion that might come through that might not be what you want to hear. In Facebook group this week in First Class Community, somebody said, oh, I reached out to one of my friends and she said, basically the, the bottom line, long drawn out way of this friend basically saying you're too much. This is too much and I don't want to help you. And she was like, I'm feeling the ick right now. And I was like, you should feel the ick because she's fucking icky. This is not your friend. A friend would not spend this much time explaining why you should not be out there promoting your business or asking her to help you promote your business. A real friend is gonna be like, let's fucking go, bitch. Let's— what should I post? And instead she said, oh, I've talked to some people who agree with me. What people? She's just trying to diminish your shine, and that is fucking icky. You're not icky for asking. And instead of just saying, you know what, I don't have time to do that right now, I really wish you luck in your business in 2026, she went on and On and on about how you're too much. Fuck that shit! Because if you're going to let that person from the cheap seats who have zero effect on your bottom line scare you, you're in the wrong business. Sales requires us to put our faces forward. You are not greedy. You are not vain. Okay, I know it feels that way because that is what we've been told, especially women, since we were one years old. Seen and not heard. Quiet women are. Quiet. They cross their legs. They don't cuss. They don't do this. They don't fucking do that. And while you're trying not to offend anyone, someone else is cashing in on your sale because they're not afraid. You need to shift the energy, the mindset from defensive to empowerment. Okay, guys, define what it means to you to be so passionate that all you can do is share. And it doesn't have to be me, me, me, me, me, but it has to be passionate about what you know about this business. What is true for you? In this business. Being obsessed is a full commitment to turning it fucking on. This is the energy we're gonna bring. We're choosing ourselves and our business every day, not because it's fucking easy— it's not easy— but because you are building it. Starting this business was brave. Starting any business is brave. And just because you might be a sub-agent or sign up with the host doesn't mean You are because you are an IC. All ICs are independent businesses. Don't let anyone make you feel less than because you don't have agents under you. There are so many travel agency owners that are shitty business people. They just got their EIN and they started a business and now they think they're legitimate because they have agents under them. That is not the fucking case. Not everyone knows how to be a leader. Not everyone knows how to even lead themselves, let alone an entire team of people. And just because you didn't go out and buy a building or rent a space to have your business doesn't mean you're not a business. In travel, when you sign on as a 1099 independent contractor, you are immediately your own business. So when I say be obsessed with your business, I mean, be disciplined, not in a hustle way, in a devoted way, devotion to your business. I don't care if Aunt Susie doesn't like that you are doing something new. Like she's like annoyed by yet another thing you've started. I don't care. Block Aunt Susie, block her. We do not need any negative Nancys up in here. Remove the toxic people. From your circle. As soon as that woman had messaged me and said, I'm too much, I would have blocked her. We are not friends if you think it's okay to send me this type of message. Be savagely honest with yourself, with your people, and things will change in your business. There's another version of obsession. It's quieter. It's dedicated working in the business. It is blocking your calendar and being respectful of your own time. In an obsessive way, not bending your own boundaries and rules to accommodate a very high maintenance prospect, making them make an appointment and sticking to the hours you plan to work. You can be obsessed with that. Okay. You can be obsessed with really good service that you provide and having the confidence that reaching out to them on their vacation is important to do. Instead of bothersome. You're not bothering someone that you are serving. And here's the deal, guys. The more obsessed you get with the processes, the workflows in your business and the marketing of that business, the confidence will follow. You do it anyway, uncomfortable. And if they think you're too obsessed or you talk too much about your business, it's probably because it makes them uncomfortable that they're not committed to anything like that. Somebody's response to you, whether positive or negative, has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with them. You need to turn your passion into obsession to drive your momentum. And you don't need everyone to quote unquote get it. You need your targeted Marketing focused on the person who is going to be as obsessed with you as you are with you and how you do things. Because everything else, as ChatGPT would say, is noise, is playing small. I fucking hate that shit in ChatGPT, by the way. You have to stop focusing on the things that do not matter in your business, and that includes anyone. Who does not believe in you. Turn them off. Block them from seeing your content. Mute their conversations in DM. I'm serious. Like, let's get savage. It's time. And start with yourself. Start with yourself. What do you want? How much money do you want to eventually make? Because it is eventual. How much money do you want your clients to spend? That's the other thing we need to be honest about. Let's stop pretending like we can create magic with $25. We cannot. Stop saying you don't have luxury clients. You don't fucking know if you have luxury clients. You're not creating content for luxury clients. You're not talking to anybody about luxury because you're afraid to talk about luxury. You're afraid to ask for more money. You're afraid to tell people when you're winning or when your clients are happy. But you should not be afraid of that stuff because it's evidence. And it's also okay to talk about. Having the momentum to move your business forward every day does take effort. It takes focus. We have to know who we are, stay in our lane, and stay dedicated to the goals that we have. Okay. And you have to be connected to your aligned client through your content, through your marketing, through your email newsletter. And can we please, if you're doing an email newsletter, send it every week and not once a month? Once a month is a waste of fucking time. And frankly, I think you should be sending a newsletter 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, because you are looking to connect and connection doesn't happen if you're not actually putting effort into it. And here's the deal. Your clients are everywhere. They are in their email. They are on TikTok. They're on Instagram. They're on Facebook. You can choose 1 or 2 of those and focus. And here's the deal. There is so much coming at them that if you only do it occasionally, if you only post 3 times a week or maybe once a week and call it consistent, or maybe you only send 1 newsletter a month, you will get lost in the ocean that is of the content coming at them. They are watching TV. They are scrolling on YouTube. They are, you know, looking at Reels. They are on X. They're, they're in their email working every day. You have to be more in front of them than makes you comfortable. You have to create more content than you believe they will ever fucking see. They won't, they won't see it all. And that's why it's so important to keep putting yourself out there. And you should start spending more time marketing, especially if you don't have a lot of business. If you don't have a ton of referrals coming in, marketing needs to be your number one thing you focus on in 2026. And that's why it's obsessive, right? And I'm not saying you have to be everywhere. Don't misunderstand me. Focus, focus, focus on one way you want to market and then become obsessed with it. Be self-focused, be self-aware of your bullshit. If you post something and it's not exactly what you want to say, like truly not exactly what you want to say, then you can edit it, but only if you're going to get more honest in the content. Not, oh, this might offend somebody, so I need to edit it. The other thing I want you to think about is your money, because that's another thing in our industry that we— like, I've already mentioned it a little bit, but to pretend like we're not here to make money is insane. We get shamed for it, especially as women, if we want too much, if we want to make a million dollars. I'll be honest, guys, I am obsessed with making money and I am not embarrassed by it. Because I have big-ass dreams and goals and I work fucking hard every single day and I deserve the money I've made. And making money is a choice that I get up every day for. It does drive me in much of the decisions I make in my business, how I market myself, what I'm selling, when I'm selling it. That's why I have such a high minimum spend now. If you want to book a trip with me, a vacation with me. My minimum spend is a lot higher than it used to be. I mean, for years I didn't even have one and I would chase every commission. Now I don't chase every commission and I only work with specific clients who have a minimum spend that meets my needs. But money gives us more flexibility to run the business we want to run. If you don't have $5,000 to $10,000 in your business bank account to invest in your travel business, it's going to be really hard to fucking invest in your travel business. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money to maintain a business bank account for your own business. And you don't have to worship money to want to make money, to want to be financially stable. Women need their own money. And you do not have to apologize for wanting to make good money and be paid a fair commission. You're not greedy if you want to make a higher commission, okay? And one of the things that a lot of the people who dislike my content say is that 60/40 is fair for many reasons, but a lot of it is like the travel agency overhead. I don't care about your overhead, and it's not Their job, the travel agent, the 1099, to pay for your overhead. It's not. And that is an unpopular opinion among boutique small businesses in our industry who think that I want to take them down. I don't want to take you down. I want you to pay a fair commission because your agents deserve to make the most money they can make on the sales they are selling to build the businesses that they want to build the way they want to build them. And they cannot. The math does not math on 50/50, 60/40. It just will never math. They will have to sell millions in travel to ever make 6 figures. And the world of travel has not changed that much in 20 years. Our commissions on cruises and vendors have not increased. In fact, in many cases, our vendors are paying us less than ever before. Disney pays a flat 10%, always has, always will. So if A travel agent makes $10,000 in bring home commission and a travel agency owner is taking $40,000 on that. They are getting $4,000 when that same travel advisor could go to a large-scale host or another travel agency and 90/10. $40,000 bring home difference. If you are a part-time advisor, it doesn't make sense to stay at a lower commission ever. Like, let's be real. And I don't know how much it totally costs to run a travel agency, and I don't care. And that is what they're mad about, is I don't care enough about the small agency owners and their needs. You're right. I don't. My goal is to help independent contractors make the most money they can make, especially working less hours, and truly embrace their financial goals. Like, get real about their financial goals. An owner told me in the DMs that most of her agents are only selling about $25,000 in gross sales a year. That's really low. That's really low. And I get it. So she's saying, you know, it's not like they're making all this money. I'm not making all this money. Well, right. They're only— say that's Disney. Say there's no air, there's no non-commissionables. They're bringing home $2,500 total of that. And then you're taking 40 fucking percent of it. I, it's, it's the most basic version of the math. And so I want you to become obsessed with running your numbers. I want you to focus on understanding what you're getting out of your travel agency owner. And if they're willing to negotiate, great. Go negotiate with them. Go talk to them about making more money, but give yourself a raise because you will not make the money you want to make to even buy annual passes this year. If you are settling for low commission splits. And it is okay to move forward and not feel guilty about looking for a host or another travel agency owner who is willing to pay you a fair commission. It's 2026. The cost of living has increased exponentially, and we need to focus on the numbers. And nobody should be out there having to sell $2 million a year to make a sustainable income. I think we should be making sustainable income selling $500,000 to $750,000 in gross sales every year with high-paying vendors and high-paying hosts. That's what I want for you. You don't have to agree with me. You could be a travel agency owner listening to this and be like, this bitch is crazy and I'm never going to make any money if I'm paying 90/10. Well, that is not your IC's problem. And I really truly believe that me telling my story, sharing my experience making 70/30 for far too long is important. It doesn't make me a bitter bitch. I take full responsibility for the decisions I made during that time. I didn't always take responsibility and I was a bitter bitch, but I am not anymore. And the one way that we can make a difference in this industry is by sharing. Because if we don't share, people feel alone. They feel like they want to cry. They don't understand what's going on. They don't know why they're not making the money they wanna make because we're not talking about it. And that's what I've been obsessed with for the last 3 years. And it has really pissed some people off. And I cannot care about the pissed off people. I can't because I'm making too much of a difference in the non-pissed off people, the ICs who are learning to run their numbers. And give themselves a raise because it is not just about fucking community. It is not just about training because you genuinely can get that stuff elsewhere and you don't have to buy it from me to get it. You can find so much information in our industry if you do not want to pay for training, and you certainly should not have to give up half or 40% of your commissions to receive community. We can create our own communities. And let's be clear that the big hosts are not that big. They are not massive businesses. There is less risk, less risk. Everything is risky, but there's less risk signing on with a host that has 8,000 or 10,000 agents in it to make the most money. And you can build your own community and it's not tied to your commission. Like people don't just accept you when you join. A small agency. They don't. And in many cases, they're already so established that it feels very difficult to find your spot. It's like, yes, a large host can be very challenging because it feels like a huge high school, but you can find community and all of the major hosts provide a ton of training. Now, is it all organized and in a great, you know, they have good CRMs and all that? No, but that's fine because you get to pick, you get to choose. But you have to be committed to your business and you have to decide to grow it. I've always had advisor friends. None of us have ever worked together. And it's so much more honest. They're so much more receptive to conversation and sharing ideas because we're not in competition and we built it ourselves. We do not quote unquote dim each other's light. Sometimes we travel together. We go on the same FAMs. Some of us met on a fam. It is so important to me for you guys to understand that I genuinely care about the travel industry and making it a better place for the majority. For the majority. I want you to know there is enough to go around. And I'm obsessed with that. And that's why I'm here. And that's why I'm going to keep doing these podcasts. That's why I'm going to keep creating content for you. So that you feel more confident in the decisions you make because it is your business and you get to pick. And if you want to go work for 60/40 and be in a smaller community, go do that. Be happy. I want you to be happy. If that's what makes you happy, perfect. But I want you to know what else is out there so that you can decide that for yourself instead of just signing on the dotted line with the first person who's nice to you, because I don't really care how nice anyone is if it means you're not going to be able to be financially successful. And I know they want the same thing for you. I really believe that. I don't think there's any boutique agency owner out there being like, oh, I want to take advantage. But sadly, that is what is happening in many, many cases. And those are the advisors I help every day in my DMs, hundreds of you. And I am all about Simplicity, less risk. So that is what I coach, whether you like it or not. That is where I stand. And I'm not going to change because I am obsessed with my messaging. I know who my aligned travel advisor follower is. And I want that for you. I want you to find and focus on and niche down to who you are serving so that you can market the shit out of yourself, alienate everyone else so that you are wasting less time connecting with that aligned person, booking the vacations you want to book. They're spending the money you need them to spend to have a successful business. You are already bold and courageous for starting your travel agent business. That took confidence. And you need to become so obsessed with sharing how amazing you are. with your audience, how amazing it is that you are doing this and you want to help this very specific person so that you can align with all of your goals and provide them with incredible experiences, memorable moments that make them refer you to more aligned clients who also are going to spend what they spent, who are also going to be okay paying your fee, who don't mind being slightly offended occasionally by your unpopular opinions. We don't all have to agree on everything all the time. And that's the thing about being audacious. That's the thing about being obsessed with your own messaging is it's probably not going to hit every single person. That is the fucking point. And you should be proud of yourself. You really should. If you have listened to this entire podcast and you are feeling fired up and you know where your passion is and you know you want to say the thing you want to say, then go. Say it. Stop worrying about everybody else. We are all judgy and audacious. Like, let's take some ownership of that. Let's embrace it and turn it into something that maximizes our businesses and not be embarrassed by it. Unless you're physically hurting somebody, unless you are truly fucking hurting somebody, say what you want to say. Own your own thoughts. Think independently. Take a stand. Become obsessed with yourself and how amazing you are. You're an expert in your own business, even if you're brand new, and trust that this business can explode when you are dub-fucking-sessed. Love you guys. Have a great day. All right, y'all. That is the end of another episode of the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. And remember, I am not a lawyer. That is my disclaimer. I am a coach and mentor in the travel business with a ton of big opinions. So don't forget to leave that 5-star review, and if you need anything, I'm here for you. Bye! Bye!
